1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coil component such as an inductor, choke coil, etc. and a manufacturing method for producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Hitherto, in an inductor, choke coil, or other coil component, copper wire coated with an insulating layer has been used as the wire wound around the component""s bobbin. A terminal has normally been secured to an electrode of the bobbin by thermal compression bonding which employs a heater chip. However, simply securing the terminal of the copper wire onto the electrode by thermal compression bonding can cause a problem in that the reliability of the thermal compression bonding heavily depends on the pressurizing condition of the heater chip, the destroyed state of the insulating layer (i.e., whether the insulating layer has been sufficiently removed), the variations in the copper wire material, contamination of the heater chip, the condition of an electrode surface, etc.
Hence, in order to reinforce the thermal compression bonding and improve the reliability of the bond, a conductive adhesive agent has been applied or soldering has been performed following the thermal compression bonding process. This, however, adds to the number of steps in the manufacturing process and also adds to the cost because of the need for installing additional equipment for the extra step following the thermal compression bonding.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a coil component and a manufacturing method for producing the same which permit a wire terminal to be secured to an electrode of a bobbin with high reliability simply by conducting thermal compression bonding with a heater chip.
To this end, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a coil component which employs, as a winding, a wire having a solder layer formed on the outer peripheral surface of a core conductor and an insulating layer formed on the outer peripheral surface of the solder layer. A terminal of the wire is fixed to an electrode provided on the bobbin by thermal compression bonding. More specifically, the terminal of the wire is first positioned on the electrode, and then a heated heater chip is brought into contact with the wire terminal to break the insulating layer and melt the solder layer at the same time. After that, the heater chip is pressurized against the terminal to provide intermetallic bonding between the core conductor and the electrode.
The core conductor is deformed when it is pressed with the heater chip and secured to the electrode by intermetallic bonding, and the affected area is further surrounded by melted solder. Therefore, when the solder solidifies, the fixation of the core conductor is reinforced with resultant improved reliability of the bond between the terminal and the electrode.